Maria woke up before the sun. Years at Blood Farm #17 had trained her body to wake before the morning collection, when demons came to take blood. For a moment, she y still, waiting for the arm that would never come.

  The bed was too soft. The room too quiet. The darkness too complete without the dim safety lights of the blood farm halls. She felt lost in this strange comfort.

  Maria sat up slowly. The electric mp Helena had shown her yesterday remained dark. She didn't touch it. Even though Helena said she could, using a demon's light felt wrong somehow.

  Instead, she slipped from the bed and knelt on the floor as the first pale light of morning began to show through the window. This was the time she had always led morning prayers at the blood farm, whispering The Promise with the other blood bags before the demons came.

  But now she was alone. No huddled circle of tired, hungry people looking to her for strength. No Thomas nodding encouragement from his thin mattress. Just Maria and the growing light.

  She closed her eyes and began to whisper.

  "Light that was before the demons, Light that will be when they're gone, Hear the words of those who suffer, Hear the promise in our song."

  The familiar words felt different here in this quiet room. At the blood farm, prayers were rushed, desperate things, spoken in fear of being discovered. Here, she could feel each word fully.

  "When we've suffered enough, When our blood has paid the price, The light will break the dark, And demons will turn to ice."

  She opened her eyes, looking at the thin strip of sunrise visible through the window. The light was beautiful here, filtered through trees and gardens instead of the cloudy pstic of blood farm windows.

  "Thank you," Maria whispered to the light. "Thank you for bringing me to Father Gabriel."

  The thought of Father Gabriel filled her with new hope. A real priest, Thomas had talked about them sometimes - humans who knew special things about the light, who helped people understand The Promise better. And now she had found one, even if he lived in a strange pce with demons for reasons she couldn't understand.

  "Help me learn from him," she continued her prayer. "Help me understand the light better so I can give hope to the others at the blood farm."

  Because that was what mattered most. Not the soft bed or the sweet water or the electric mp she could control herself. What mattered was taking The Promise back to those still suffering. The cursed ones at the Baron's pce needed hope too - they were so lost they didn't even know they were cursed. Father Gabriel could help her learn how to make them see the truth, how to help them accept their punishment instead of pretending they weren't cursed.

  As the sun rose higher, Maria thought about what she would ask Father Gabriel when she saw him again. How to read the light-books. What the colored gss pictures meant. Why the cross was a sign of giving something for others.

  But as she made these pns, a cold feeling grew in her stomach. The moon. She had lost track of days at the blood farm, but she could feel it coming. The time when her curse would show itself. When she would change into the animal thing she hated.

  What would happen when her curse came in this pce? Would they lock her up like at the blood farm? Would they send her away? Would Father Gabriel see her as a monster and not want to teach her anymore?

  Her body tensed at the thought. Usually, she would be put in the isotion cells at the blood farm when her time came. The change would happen, painful and terrifying as always, then she would wake up human again with no memory of what happened during the night. Just bruises and sometimes blood on her hands that she tried not to think about.

  "Please," she whispered urgently to the light. "Please don't let the curse come while I'm here. Or if it must come, help me hide it. Don't let Father Gabriel see what happens to me."

  A knock at the door made Maria jump to her feet.

  "Maria? Are you awake?" It was Helena's voice. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

  "Yes," Maria called, her voice sounding strange to her own ears. "I'm awake."

  "Father Gabriel has left a message for you," Helena said through the door. "He asked if you would join him in the library this evening after sunset. He thought you might like to see some of the books about light and faith."

  Maria frowned, confused about why Father Gabriel only wanted to see her after dark. Maybe that was when he did his light-teaching? But her heart beat faster anyway. This was what she had prayed for - a chance to learn from someone who knew about the light.

  "I'll come soon," she said.

  After Helena's footsteps faded, Maria quickly got dressed in the clean clothes from the drawer. As she did, she caught sight of herself in the small mirror on the wall. She looked different somehow. Still thin from blood farm life, but her eyes seemed brighter. Was this what Helena meant by "happy"? This strange, light feeling mixed with fear and hope?

  Before leaving the room, Maria knelt once more and whispered the final part of her morning prayer.

  "The light sees our suffering, The light counts every drop of blood, The light remembers those who kept faith, The light will return when the debt is paid."

  Then she added something she had never said before: "And thank you for Father Gabriel, who can teach me more about the light than Thomas knew."

  As Maria walked to breakfast, her thoughts were a jumble of excitement about learning from Father Gabriel and fear about her approaching curse. A part of her knew she should tell someone about her curse, to prepare them. But a stronger part feared what would happen if they knew.

  They would send her away from Father Gabriel, back to the blood farm or to the pce with the cursed people who didn't know they were cursed. She couldn't risk that. Not when she had finally found someone who could teach her about the light.

  So she would keep her curse secret for as long as she could. She would learn everything Father Gabriel could teach her. And maybe, if she learned enough about the light, she could even find a way to break her curse forever.

  With this hope in her heart, Maria entered the dining hall, scanning the room for Father Gabriel, eager to begin learning the truth about the light that had guided her all her life.